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Other Resources
In March 2006, the Secretary-General presented his plan for a radical overhaul of the United Nations Secretariat to bring it more in line with today's new operational realities and better equip the UN to meet the growing demands and expectations of Member States. The main focus of the overhaul plan, called Investing in the United Nations: For a Stronger Organization Worldwide, is on transforming the UN into a more efficient and accountable organization in a way that reflects the fact that more than 70 percent of its $10 billion annual budget now relates to peacekeeping and other field operations, up from around 50 per cent of a $4.5 billion budget ten years ago. In doing so, the report outlines a number of specific reforms and targeted investments on how to realign staff skills to meet current and emerging organizational objectives; elevate management accountability and performance; upgrade information technology; streamline budget and finance and explore new, more cost-effective ways of delivering services.
The Secretary-General today announced the formation of a new, high-level panel to explore how the United Nations system could work more coherently and effectively across the world in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and the environment. The study, which was called for in the Outcome Document adopted by global leaders at the 2005 World Summit in New York, is intended to lay the groundwork for a fundamental restructuring of the United Nations operational work, complementing other major reform initiatives currently under way at the United Nations, including the creation of a new Peacebuilding Commission, negotiations over the establishment of a new Human Rights Council and a proposal for comprehensive management reform that will shortly be unveiled by the Secretary-General.
The world's leaders, meeting at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 14 to 16 September, agreed to take action on a range of global challenges. The 2005 World Summit Outcome provides an impressive agenda of reform which, when fulfilled, will give the world a much strengthened United Nations able to better meet the great demands it faces.
In September 2005, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Member States to adopt a package of specific, concrete proposals to tackle global problems and enable the Organization to better respond to current challenges. The comprehensive strategy he proposed gives equal weight and attention to the three great purposes of this Organization: development, security and human rights, all of which must be underpinned by the rule of law. The report was called In Larger Freedom because he believed those words from the Charter conveyed the idea that development, security and human rights went hand in hand. The cause of larger freedom could only be advanced if nations worked together; and the United Nations could only help if it was remoulded as an effective instrument of their common purpose.
Useful links
UNBISnet is a catalogue of United Nations documents and publications indexed by the UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library and the Library of the UN Office at Geneva. The coverage of UNBISnet is from 1979 onward, however, older documents are being added to the catalogue on a regular basis as a result of retrospective conversion. UNBISnet also provides instant access to a growing number of full text resources in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish, including resolutions adopted by the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the Security Council from 1946 onward.
ODS covers all types of official United Nations documentation, beginning in 1993. Older UN documents are, however, added to the system on a daily basis. ODS also provides access to the resolutions of the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship Council from 1946 onwards.
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